Bear skull

[Old Man Yager]

So I have my sons bear skull that I want to finish. I buried it in my backyard, and it came out pretty clean overall. What's my next step to make it white? Thanks for any replies.

[lord grizzly]

Hydrogen peroxide

[Ebell]

I would de-grease it first, soak in water with dawn soap and scrub with a brush after a few days and soak in a fresh batch of soap. Rinse thoroughly, rhen use the hydrogen peroxide, the stuff from a salon. The stuff they sell at the grocery stores just isn't strong enough. 

[cougkilr]

I have some magnesium carbonate that I get from Research Mannikns that I mix with 27% peroxide, my hunting buddies and I use it on all of our skulls, seems to do a pretty good job. Get a hold of me if you want and we can throw a paste on the skull to see if it is something that you like before you go spend money on a product, I'm between Graham and Eatonville.

Brandon

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

You are going to HAVE to degrease it before any whitening or peroxide. Bear skulls, out of most all the game animals, carry the most grease and oil in their skulls and if you peroxide or whiten the skull first it will look good for about 1 month and then turn yellow and start to stink. Put that skull in a 5 gallon bucket of water heated to at least 90 degrees..you can buy a aquarium heater that will work for this at any pet store for about 10 bucks. Add 1/4 cup of dawn dishwashing soap (use actual Dawn, the knock off brands don't work as well) per 5 gallons of water. Let this work on the skull for 1 week then change out the water, and make a new batch of water/soap. Do this for at least 3 weeks. The teeth will fall out and the lower two mandibles (jaws) may separate but are all easy to put back together with super glue once you get done with the water bath; to help know where the teeth go back in, take a pic of the jaws before you start the bath to have a reference to where the teeth go. After 3 weeks, take the skull out and dip in straight Acetone for at least 12 hours, but 24 would be better. Remove from acetone, rinse well, and do another water bath for 1 week. Unless its a HUGE bear you should be good. Take the skull out and let it dry completely, if you need to do another week it will be obvious as grease spots (dark yellow) will appear, mostly they are near the back of the skull or in the back side of the eye sockets. If they appear go another week in the water bath and re-check; keep in mind the skull will not be real white even after the water bath. If its clear of grease spots then put it in 40 percent by volume peroxide for about 4-5 hours (use gloves, this stuff will turn your hand white!).  If you haven't already, glue the lower jaw and teeth back into the correct spots with super glue. Take the skull out, let dry and then use the cougrkilr was talking about, its magnesium carbonate and mix 50/50 with peroxide to make a paste. You can by the magnesium from any beauty supply store as well along with the peroxide. Coat the skull everywhere with the paste and let it stay on it for at least 3 hours. Rinse the skull with HOT water and put the skull in the sun or under a heat lamp. It will take a full 48 hours before it reaches its full dry time, which will be the whitest it will be. DONT, whatever you do, add hydrogen peroxide to the water bath as some have suggested in other posts. Heated peroxide eats the fine filament bones from the nasal passages as well as swells the canine teeth and you will never get them back in the skull. Best of luck and let me know how it works out or if you have any questions. Sorry for the lengthy instructions...but you asked...
Joel- BRT.

[Old Man Yager]

Thanks for the directions and suggestions, do I also need to soak the teeth while degreasing, and include them in all the steps I will put the skull through?

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

You can, but its not necessary. If/when they fall out just put them aside if you want, they don't carry any grease so its not necessary to keep them in the bath. I would glue them back in before you soak them in peroxide and the whitening process tho.

[Old Man Yager]

Thank you Mr. Black River Taxidermy, I appreciate the help.

[Tjv28]

Be careful. I did the "bury it in the backyard" trick on my buck this year. It definitely weakens the bone a great deal... I won't be doing it again. It looks okay, but it is super fragile

[blindluck]

Is that bear done yet, I'd like to see a pic?

[rawhide]

I use volume 17 hair die. Works great and only cost's 2.99